Swimming with Sports Watches

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alasta

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#304666 26-May-2023 14:56

I have owned Garmin and Apple Watches and found both to be surprisingly accurate for open water swimming given the limitations of GPS in these conditions.

Unfortunately I haven't had quite the same success with pool swimming. My Garmin Fenix 5 Plus was hopeless, massively overcounting laps. My Apple Watch Series 6 is a lot better but occasionally has a weird tendency to count my rests as a kick board lap, hence counting an additional lap when it shouldn't.

Are there any pool swimmers here who can comment on the accuracy of the latest Fenix, Forerunner and Apple Watch models in this environment?

shim99

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#3079881 26-May-2023 21:26

I have a forerunner 245 and it’s pretty good for swimming. Won’t register anything if not using arms so kicking with a board needs to be entered under the drill function. If yours is over counting the only thing could be the pool length set to less than the one you’re swimming in.

shim99

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#3079948 27-May-2023 08:50

Can't seem to edit my previous post, but what I meant to say is one thing might be the pool length setting, not the only thing.

alasta

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#3079950 27-May-2023 09:09

Nah, it's definitely not the pool length.

In this example, set 7 should have a rest time of 55 seconds, but instead it's pushing 35 of those seconds into a non-existent kick board session. So, it sometimes thinks that I'm in motion on a kick board when I'm actually resting. It doesn't happen often so I'm wondering if it's something to do with movement of my arms while resting.

alasta

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#3150090 19-Oct-2023 12:34

Just an update to this in case anyone is reading this thread in the future.

I have determined that this problem is caused by standing with my arms at right angles during resting. If I rest with my wrists down and elbows straight, i.e. with the watch below the water line, then the accuracy of the lap counting is perfect.